Lacrosse scrimmage

ASkipASkip Registered Users Posts: 224 Major grins
edited February 23, 2007 in Sports
Hi,
from a scrimmage at my kid's school (I think I attached a file).

I get to be team photographer this year. All I have is a Nikon D70s and a 2.8 300mm lens. Seems too big to be on the sidelines. Should I go shopping for another lens? Normally I sit in the front row of the stands, but the field level shots here at dgrin look so much better. All their games are at night under bad high school stadium lights. boo.
thanks.
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Comments

  • gsgarygsgary Registered Users Posts: 1,350 Major grins
    edited February 21, 2007
    ASkip wrote:
    Hi,
    from a scrimmage at my kid's school (I think I attached a file).

    I get to be team photographer this year. All I have is a Nikon D70s and a 2.8 300mm lens. Seems too big to be on the sidelines. Should I go shopping for another lens? Normally I sit in the front row of the stands, but the field level shots here at dgrin look so much better. All their games are at night under bad high school stadium lights. boo.
    thanks.

    Why are you shooting at F4.5 if you have a F2.8 open it up, and why shutter priority shoot in AV or manual
  • ASkipASkip Registered Users Posts: 224 Major grins
    edited February 21, 2007
    gsgary wrote:
    Why are you shooting at F4.5 if you have a F2.8 open it up, and why shutter priority shoot in AV or manual

    Good questions. It's was cloudy then sunny and then getting dark and I forget to keep an eye on what the camera's doing, I can just barely follow the ball. I didn't want the shutter to get too slow and blurry so I just left it where it barely worked. At night I set the shutter speed to 200 or 250 and let the aperture complain about the lack of light. Maybe I should just go manual then.
    so no shopping then? I should just do more reading...
    Thanks.
    Surf: http://ascip.smugmug.com/
    Land sports: http://scippix.smugmug.com/
  • Art ScottArt Scott Registered Users Posts: 8,959 Major grins
    edited February 21, 2007
    If you feel the 300 f2.8 is too long then yes go looking for 70-200 f2.8...that should be just the ticket for what you need. IMHO

    Nice shot.thumb.gif
    "Genuine Fractals was, is and will always be the best solution for enlarging digital photos." ....Vincent Versace ... ... COPYRIGHT YOUR WORK ONLINE ... ... My Website

  • KMCCKMCC Registered Users Posts: 717 Major grins
    edited February 21, 2007
    ASkip wrote:
    Hi,
    from a scrimmage at my kid's school (I think I attached a file).

    I get to be team photographer this year. All I have is a Nikon D70s and a 2.8 300mm lens. Seems too big to be on the sidelines. Should I go shopping for another lens? Normally I sit in the front row of the stands, but the field level shots here at dgrin look so much better. All their games are at night under bad high school stadium lights. boo.
    thanks.
    Nice shot. I really like shots that catch the ball in flight; particularly if it's entering the net! thumb.gif

    For what it's worth all of the lacrosse shots that I've posted lately were taken with the 70-200mm f/2.8. All of the high schools here also play most of their games at night, but that only makes photographing them more interesting!

    Kent
    "Not everybody trusts paintings, but people believe photographs."- Ansel Adams
    Web site
  • cecilccecilc Registered Users Posts: 114 Major grins
    edited February 22, 2007
    ASkip wrote:
    All I have is a Nikon D70s and a 2.8 300mm lens. Seems too big to be on the sidelines. Should I go shopping for another lens?

    mwink.gif Poor baby ! All I have is a nice camera and a 300 2.8 .... OMG, what do I DO ?! .....

    Hey, if you want another lens, by all means go out and buy one - but do you need another lens to shoot lacrosse ? Only if you have another body to put it on so that you can leave the 300 on this body ..... But, "No", I don't think you need another lens ... in my opinion, a 300 is a perfect fit for lacrosse. Sure, you're not going to get the action that's right in front of your face, but the rest of your shots will be framed much more nicely with the 300 than with a 200.
    Personally, I shoot lacrosse with a 400 2.8 (and sometimes with a 1.4 on it) and usually I wish I had more reach .... I do, however, have the luxury of having a 2nd body with an 80-200 2.8 usually on that body. I know other shooters that shoot lacrosse with a 600 f4.0 .... so 300 is not "too big to be on the sidelines" in lacrosse.
    My personal motto for shooting sports: "Shoot tight, crop tighter." The 300 will get you closer to doing that than a 200 .... you might even consider putting a 1.4 on that 300 just to see what kind of view you get ....
    ASkip wrote:
    All their games are at night under bad high school stadium lights.

    In that case, you'll need that 2.8 .... Here's my recommendations for shooting under the lights (and these are just starting points - the quality of light at your stadium may dictate changes):
    Shoot in manual mode
    ISO 1600
    f2.8
    1/400 shutter speed

    But have fun, man .... and keep that 300 !!....
    Cecil
    Atlanta, Georgia
    Photos at SportsShooter
  • gsgarygsgary Registered Users Posts: 1,350 Major grins
    edited February 22, 2007
    ASkip wrote:
    Good questions. It's was cloudy then sunny and then getting dark and I forget to keep an eye on what the camera's doing, I can just barely follow the ball. I didn't want the shutter to get too slow and blurry so I just left it where it barely worked. At night I set the shutter speed to 200 or 250 and let the aperture complain about the lack of light. Maybe I should just go manual then.
    so no shopping then? I should just do more reading...
    Thanks.

    That why you should be using AV set at 2.8 and that will give you the higher shutter speed also adjust ISO to keep S/S high hope this helps
  • gsgarygsgary Registered Users Posts: 1,350 Major grins
    edited February 22, 2007
    cecilc wrote:
    mwink.gif Poor baby ! All I have is a nice camera and a 300 2.8 .... OMG, what do I DO ?! .....

    Hey, if you want another lens, by all means go out and buy one - but do you need another lens to shoot lacrosse ? Only if you have another body to put it on so that you can leave the 300 on this body ..... But, "No", I don't think you need another lens ... in my opinion, a 300 is a perfect fit for lacrosse. Sure, you're not going to get the action that's right in front of your face, but the rest of your shots will be framed much more nicely with the 300 than with a 200.
    Personally, I shoot lacrosse with a 400 2.8 (and sometimes with a 1.4 on it) and usually I wish I had more reach .... I do, however, have the luxury of having a 2nd body with an 80-200 2.8 usually on that body. I know other shooters that shoot lacrosse with a 600 f4.0 .... so 300 is not "too big to be on the sidelines" in lacrosse.
    My personal motto for shooting sports: "Shoot tight, crop tighter." The 300 will get you closer to doing that than a 200 .... you might even consider putting a 1.4 on that 300 just to see what kind of view you get ....



    In that case, you'll need that 2.8 .... Here's my recommendations for shooting under the lights (and these are just starting points - the quality of light at your stadium may dictate changes):
    Shoot in manual mode
    ISO 1600
    f2.8
    1/400 shutter speed

    But have fun, man .... and keep that 300 !!....

    How big is a Lacrosse pitch similar to a soccer pitch ?
  • ASkipASkip Registered Users Posts: 224 Major grins
    edited February 22, 2007
    gsgary wrote:
    How big is a Lacrosse pitch similar to a soccer pitch ?
    Soccer is a tiny bit wider, but it's pretty much the same. They all fit within the oval of a 1/4 mile track.

    Thanks for all the comments. I'll keep my 300 then. You guys are so funny.
    Surf: http://ascip.smugmug.com/
    Land sports: http://scippix.smugmug.com/
  • gsgarygsgary Registered Users Posts: 1,350 Major grins
    edited February 22, 2007
    ASkip wrote:
    Soccer is a tiny bit wider, but it's pretty much the same. They all fit within the oval of a 1/4 mile track.

    Thanks for all the comments. I'll keep my 300 then. You guys are so funny.

    The 300mm is just right then, try sitting between the corner and goal they will be coming straight at you at F2.8 so you have a nice blurred background thats how i shoot rugby most of the time this one is with 300mmF4 before i got my 300mmF2.8

    92872745-M.jpg
  • ASkipASkip Registered Users Posts: 224 Major grins
    edited February 22, 2007
    gsgary wrote:
    The 300mm is just right then, try sitting between the corner and goal they will be coming straight at you at F2.8 so you have a nice blurred background thats how i shoot rugby most of the time this one is with 300mmF4 before i got my 300mmF2.8

    Ooh, I love your rugby photos! Sitting on the endline is really dangerous in lacrosse as the ball comes that way at high speed. but the corner isn't so bad. There's another scrimmage this weekend, I will try all this out. Thanks.
    Surf: http://ascip.smugmug.com/
    Land sports: http://scippix.smugmug.com/
  • KMCCKMCC Registered Users Posts: 717 Major grins
    edited February 22, 2007
    ASkip wrote:
    Ooh, I love your rugby photos! Sitting on the endline is really dangerous in lacrosse as the ball comes that way at high speed. but the corner isn't so bad. There's another scrimmage this weekend, I will try all this out. Thanks.
    Ah yes! Not only do lacrosse balls come at you at a very high speed, but the little devils are rock hard.

    Standing on the sidelines of last year's Boston College v. Georgia Tech game, I caught one just below the nose. Fortunately it was not a full speed shot on goal and it was on first bounce so some of the speed was gone, but it's not an experience I'd want to repeat. :uhoh

    Kent
    "Not everybody trusts paintings, but people believe photographs."- Ansel Adams
    Web site
  • BlueHoseJacketBlueHoseJacket Registered Users Posts: 509 Major grins
    edited February 23, 2007
    Yep , they can leave a mark...my daughter who plays was at practice a couple of weeks ago and got hit in the eye...she had a black eye that is just now disappearing. The girls do not wear the helmets, just a cage over their eyes...leave it to a 14 year old girl to not have her cage pulled down over her eyes..she got popped pretty good. Lesson learned.
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